Walt Wagner

Last updated

Walt Wagner (born 1943) [1] is an American pianist, composer, and arranger based in Seattle, Washington. He is most recently known as the longtime pianist for Seattle restaurant Canlis.

Contents

Wagner began on piano at age six, and took formal lessons in classical music while playing rock and roll on the side. Before he was born, his father had been a dance band leader. [2] He played in a Seattle group called The Rebels, which later became The Exotics. The group was picked up by local radio station KJR, which resulted in bookings in dance halls throughout Washington state. [3] Around 1960, The Exotics recorded a single for Jerden Records and opened in concert for Jerry Lee Lewis. [1] In the 1960s, Wagner continued performing in Seattle-area restaurants, took college courses, and worked odd jobs, including at an A&W Restaurant, as a forklift operator for the Seattle shipyard, and at Boeing. [3]

Throughout the 1970s, Wagner played in Sun Valley, Idaho, especially during ski season, and toured internationally as the pianist for Peggy Fleming's skating shows. In the off season he continued playing restaurants and also took work on cruise ships, which he continued to do into the 1980s. He met his future wife while performing on a cruise ship in 1987. [3] They were married the same year. [4]

In 1994, Boeing commissioned Wagner to compose a piece for the debut of its 777 jetliner. [5] Wagner expanded the work into a full piano concerto, which he named "The Miracle". [5] [6]

Wagner became one of two house pianists at Seattle fine dining restaurant Canlis in 1996, where he played arrangements of popular songs. [3] [7] During this time he self-released several albums, [8] including one of his own compositions recorded with the Seattle Symphony in 1998. [9] He announced his retirement from Canlis in 2016, and record label Sub Pop recorded his final performance there on October 9. [10] The resultant live album featured his renditions of songs by DJ Shadow, Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, Prince, The Left Banke, Goat, The Buzzcocks, My Bloody Valentine, and Phoenix. [11] Sub Pop released the album, entitled Reworks, in November 2017. [12]

Discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Francisco Symphony</span> American symphony orchestra in San Francisco, California, United States

The San Francisco Symphony, founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus (1972) are part of the organization. Michael Tilson Thomas became the orchestra's music director in 1995, and concluded his tenure in 2020 when Esa-Pekka Salonen took over the position.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Harris</span> American composer (1898–1979)

Roy Ellsworth Harris was an American composer. He wrote music on American subjects, and is best known for his Symphony No. 3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lalo Schifrin</span> Argentine-American pianist and composer (born 1932)

Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Latin American musical elements alongside traditional orchestrations. He is a five-time Grammy Award winner; he has been nominated for six Academy Awards and four Emmy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Floyd Cramer</span> American pianist (1933–1997)

Floyd Cramer was an American pianist who became famous for his use of melodic "whole-step" attacks. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His signature playing style was a cornerstone of the pop-oriented "Nashville sound" of the 1950s and 1960s. Cramer's "slip-note" or "bent-note" style, in which a passing note slides almost instantly into or away from a chordal note, influenced a generation of pianists. His sound became popular to the degree that he stepped out of his role as a sideman and began touring as a solo act. In 1960, his piano instrumental solo, "Last Date" went to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 pop music chart and sold over one million copies. Its follow-up, "On the Rebound", topped the UK Singles Chart in 1961. As a studio musician, he became one of a cadre of elite players dubbed the Nashville A-Team and he performed on scores of hit records.

<i>More Than a New Discovery</i> 1967 studio album by Laura Nyro

More Than a New Discovery is the debut album by Bronx-born singer, songwriter, and pianist Laura Nyro. It was recorded during 1966 and released early in the following year on the Verve Folkways imprint of the Verve Records label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Nero</span> American pianist and pops conductor (1934–2023)

Peter Nero was an American pianist and pops conductor. He directed the Philly Pops from 1979 to 2013, and earned two Grammy Awards, including the award for Best New Artist in 1962, as well as a total of 8 nominations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chilly Gonzales</span> Canadian musician

Jason Charles Beck, professionally known as Chilly Gonzales or just Gonzales, is a Canadian musician, songwriter, and producer. Currently based in Cologne, Germany, he previously lived for several years in Paris and Berlin. Gonzales’ career spans numerous genres. He is known for his rap albums, his collaborations with singer and musician Feist and rapper Drake, his albums of classical piano compositions, and for his collaborations with electronic musicians Daft Punk and Boys Noize, the latter of whom he also produces under the moniker Octave Minds. In 2022, he and Plastikman released a piano rework of the latter's 1998 minimal techno classic album Consumed in collaboration with Canadian musician Tiga, titled "Consumed in Key".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aaron Embry</span> American songwriter and record producer

Aaron Embry is an American songwriter and record producer. A periodic studio musician and touring pianist with artists such as Elliott Smith and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, he has also helped write albums by Jane's Addiction and produced albums by artists such as Avi Buffalo. In 2012 he released his solo album Tiny Prayers on Vagrant Records.

Plexi was an American gothic noise rock band consisting of Michael Angelos, Michael Barragan and Norm Block. Formed in 1993, their original name was Godseed. Their sound has been compared to bands such as Bauhaus, Sonic Youth, The Cure, Bailter Space, Swervedriver, The Psychedelic Furs, My Bloody Valentine and Psi Com. Plexi's material combined a mix of detached, wry, existential, and romantic lyrics with a flamboyant blend of glam rock and artsy avant-garde textures and noise. Guitarist Michael Barragan was known for regular use of an Echoplex unit to create chaotic walls of sound.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Benoit (musician)</span> American jazz pianist (born 1953)

David Bryan Benoit is an American jazz pianist, composer and producer, based in Los Angeles, California, United States. Benoit has charted over 25 albums since 1980, and has been nominated for three Grammy Awards. He is also music director for the Pacific Vision Youth Symphony and the Asia America Youth Orchestra. Furthermore, crediting Vince Guaraldi as an inspiration, Benoit has participated both as performer and music director for the later animated adaptations of the Peanuts comic strip, such as the feature film, The Peanuts Movie, restoring Guaraldi's musical signature to the franchise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laszlo Gardony</span> Hungarian-American jazz pianist and composer

Laszlo Gardony is a Hungarian-born American jazz pianist and composer. Gardony performs as a solo artist and leads his own trio, quartet and sextet. He is also a featured sideman with several other groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Rosenthal</span> American jazz musician

Ted Rosenthal is an American jazz pianist. He was featured on David Sanborn's series Night Music, and has performed worldwide, both as a leader and as a sideman with many jazz greats, including Gerry Mulligan, Art Farmer, Phil Woods, Bob Brookmeyer, and Jon Faddis. Rosenthal has released 15 CDs as a leader, which include Great American Songbook standards, jazz classical compositions, and Rosenthal's own original compositions. In addition to his career as a performing artist, Rosenthal holds faculty positions at the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and The New School.

<i>Andante and Finale</i>

The Andante and Finale is a composition for piano and orchestra that was reworked by Sergei Taneyev from sketches by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky for the abandoned latter movements of his single-movement Piano Concerto No. 3 in E-flat, Op. 75.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sune Rose Wagner</span> Danish singer-songwriter and guitarist

Sune Rose Wagner is a Danish songwriter, guitarist, and singer, best known for playing in the rock group The Raveonettes. In addition to his own bands, Wagner has produced, recorded, and mixed albums by acts such as Dum Dum Girls, Crocodiles, and Louise Burns.

Bob Kames was an American musician who specialized in genres such as polka. Kames is credited with developing and popularizing the modern-day version of the song "Dance Little Bird," which is much better known by its more common name, The Chicken Dance. Kames is a member of the Wisconsin Area Music Industry's Hall of Fame.

William Whitney Pursell was an American composer and onetime session pianist. He had a brief but successful career as a pop musician before continuing on as a session player. Pursell is best known for the top ten hit "Our Winter Love."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Albright</span> American pianist and composer

Charlie Albright is an American pianist and composer. He is an official Steinway Artist, 2014 Avery Fisher Career Grant Recipient, 2010 Gilmore Young Artist (2010) and former Young Concert Artist. He graduated from Harvard College (AB) and the New England Conservatory (MM) as the first classical pianist in the schools' five-year AB/MM Joint Program, was named the Leverett House Artist in Residence for 2011–2012, and was one of the 15 Most Interesting Seniors of the Harvard College Class of 2011. He graduated from the Juilliard School of Music with his post-graduate Artist Diploma (AD) in 2014.

Behzod Abduraimov is an Uzbek pianist. A former student of Van Cliburn International Piano Competition gold medalist Stanislav Ioudenitch at Park University's International Center for Music (ICM), he was described by The Independent as "the most perfectly accomplished pianist of his generation". Abduraimov won the London International Piano Competition in 2009 at the age of 18, which launched his career. He continues to perform internationally in solo recitals, chamber music performances, and as soloist with leading orchestras such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mariinsky Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Sydney Symphony Orchestra under such conductors as Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Manfred Honeck, Vasily Petrenko, James Gaffigan, Jakub Hrůša, Thomas Dausgaard and Vladimir Jurowski.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canlis</span> Restaurant in Seattle, Washington, U.S.

Canlis is a fine dining restaurant serving New American and Pacific Northwest cuisine in Seattle, Washington. Situated in the Queen Anne neighborhood, the restaurant has views of Gas Works Park and the Cascade Mountains. It was built by Peter Canlis in 1950, and remains family-owned. The restaurant currently employs over 100 people.

Rueibin Chen is a Taiwanese concert pianist, who was selected by the government in a talent search and sent to Vienna, where he obtained a concert diploma at the Conservatory. Subsequently, he received a soloist's examination award from the Hannover Hochschule für Musik and then continued his study under the Russian pianist Lazar Berman.

References

  1. 1 2 Walt Wagner, longtime Canlis pianist, is retiring … and Sub Pop will be there to document it. Seattle Times , October 7, 2016.
  2. ↑ Walt Wagner biography at Allmusic
  3. 1 2 3 4 Walt Wagner: Canlis' Key Player. Seattle Weekly , August 10, 2011.
  4. ↑ marriage license, Prince George's County, Maryland
  5. 1 2 Robison, Peter (2021). Flying blind: the 737 MAX tragedy and the fall of Boeing. New York: Doubleday. p. 46. ISBN   9780385546492.
  6. ↑ Guthrie, Patricia (March 22, 2019). "Music captures marvel of Boeing's bygone days". South Whidbey Record. Retrieved July 9, 2024.
  7. ↑ Ebony & Ivory at Canlis. Seattle Weekly , December 23, 2008.
  8. ↑ Longtime Canlis Piano Man Gets a Nod From Sub Pop. Seattle Magazine, November 2017.
  9. ↑ Composing A Joyful Noise -- Walt Wagner Finds New Meaning In His Music With `The Miracle'. Seattle Times , November 28, 1998.
  10. ↑ A Final Performance for Canlis Piano Legend Walt Wagner. Seattle Met , September 29, 2016.
  11. ↑ Walt Wagner – “I Only Said” (My Bloody Valentine Cover). Stereogum , November 10, 2017.
  12. ↑ Album review, Allmusic

Official website OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.